Old, Dusty Boxes and a Heart of Smoke and Mirrors
by MugiChanx
Summary: Chihiro and her new friend Ryuuji stumble upon an abandoned theme park and decide to explore. Opening old wounds is always hard, but opening old boxes is harder. Story is better than summary, promise. :P Title may change, I don't like it...


**Hey Hey! Tis Mugi and she is back in business my friends and enemies and reletives and anybody else who may possibly read this fic! After a long time of thinking, eating, revising, arguing, making up, singing, dancing, being a retard and becoming obsessed with Vocaloid, I finally thought up an idea! And hopefully, a good one! And it's not Haruhi Suzumiya! Hooray!**

**Anyway, this is one of those **_**Sequel to Spirited Away, Chihiro goes back to the Spirit World and has an adventure**_** kind of fics. I'm sorry I couldn't be more original. I decided to be risky. I've decided to write a story a lot of other people write too, so I have a lot to live up to. I've also included an OC, which more than 80% of the time, fails. And by putting all this before the story begins and the reader has had a chance to give this story a go, you have probably by now clicked the back button and tried the next fic instead. But I'm pretty sure of myself. And that's got to count for something, right?**

**Enough of my babble. Please enjoy. ^_^**

On the first day of her new, new school, Chihiro was given a loving piece of advice from her parents.

_Don't talk about the spirits._

Nobody believed her when she told them. About the Spirits. About the Bathhouse. About Haku.

Her parents told her it was a dream. Her therepist told her to stop telling lies because she was unhappy with the change of scene. Her old friends told her she was mad, her new friends told her she was stupid. Her concience told her she was lying, but her heart told her it was the truth. Her mind didn't know what to think.

The more she thinks about it now, the more stupid it sounds in her mind. Like her parents could really turn into pigs. Like there was really a bathhouse for the Gods. Like there was ever a Sen.

Sen. The person she wants to be, the person she could be if she ever finds the courage. The person she idolises, her role model, and yet a part of her. She is her. She is Sen. But right now she is Chihiro. And she's scared.

After three weeks, she transfered to a new school, in the town just across from her new home. She sticks out, in her brand new uniform, white against everyone else's black. Her face is a stern frown; everbody backs away at once. She's mysterious, that's for sure, but she also looks sad, angry, distant. Nobody wants anything to do with her. Somebody spreads a rumour,something they've heard. They say she sees dead people. She talks to ghosts. She befriends the spirits. She's a witch, a phycic, a lost soul.

None of them are true, but most of them are right. The whispers in the corridors are nothing compaired to the whispers in her head, the doubts, the smoke and mirrors.

The mirrors are her eyes as they fill with tears, the snow fluttering down, acting friendly, scheming in reality. The flakes melt and dissolve at her touch, just like the memories of the Spirit World, her friends and her adventure. She wears her purple hairband everyday, but it's faded now, the shine is gone, like the excitment in her life. She can no longer remember how she got it. But she knows it's precious.

The smoke is her breath, swirling from her mouth in puffs of silvery vapour, like the steam of a warm herbal bath. The wind attacks her pink cheeks, and all she wants is for the wind to pick her up and whisk her away. She wants to fall again like she did four years ago. Feel the wind in her hair, on her face, in between her toes. Most of all she wants to see him.

Who is he? She loves him, yet she has no idea who he could be. The beautiful dragon of her dreams, an ice blue in colour but warm at heart. She tries to grasp the memories, but it is like trying to pull the stars from the sky; in other words, it ain't never gonna happen. So she wraps her scarf around her neck and she waits. For him? For answers? For Sen? She doesn't know, possibly all three.

He finds her there, sitting on an old park bench, the snow piling up around her. She's been there for more than an hour, just thinking, watching waiting. He looks down at her and for once she is seen, properly seen. She is not invisible anymore. He doesn't ignore her, like anybody else would. He just looks at her, with those eyes, ice blue, and she is grateful for simply that. He can see her. She is real.

After a while, they talk.

My name is Chihiro. My name is Ryuuji. I'm fourteen years old. I am fifteen. Are you cold? Yes.

The conversation continues until the night comes, the temperature dropping too much for them to bear. He walks her home and holds her hand and for once, she feels happy. His smile makes her feel like she truly belongs. She is a human being. It's time to let go of the childish fantasies.

She tells him every last detail of her adventure, all that she can remember. He listens and he smiles and he doesn't run away or call her stupid, weird or strange. She tells him everything and then locks it away, inside her head, erasing every memory of it. It can't stop her living her life anymore.

After four years, the one thing she remembers is the tunnel to the abandoned theme park. She recalls having a good time there. Maybe she should visit sometime, she thinks. Maybe it would be fun.

**Hehe, my first Spirited Away Fanfic. I know people do this kind of fic all the time, but hopefully this wont be boring in any way! Sorry for the emo-y Prologue, by the way. It wont all be like that XD**

**Gah, Chihiro an emo... did not need **_**that**_** picture in my head...**

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! Even if you think it is complete and utter rubbish! I don't mind! I'll just try harder next time, promise. K? :P**


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